Ver. 18-21. And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest The sagan, or deputy priest, who officiated for the high priest, when by any means he was rendered unfit and incapable; so Joseph, the son of Ellem, as Josephus F24 relates, officiated for Matthias, when defiled with a nocturnal pollution; and seven days before the day of atonement they always substituted one under the high priest, lest anything of this kind should happen to him F25. From hence, to the end of ( 2 Kings 25:21 ) the account is the same as in ( Jeremiah 52:25-27 ) , only here in ( 2 Kings 25:19 ) it is said, that five men that were in the king's presence were taken, there seven men; to account for which, (See Gill on Jeremiah 52:25).
FOOTNOTES:
F24 Antiqu. l. 17. c. 6. sect. 4. F25 Misn. Yoma, c. 1. sect. 1.
16
the two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
17
The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass; and the height of the chapiter three cubits, and network and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass; and the second pillar was like the first with network.
18
And the captain of the guard took Seraiah, the chief priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, and the three keepers of the door;
19
and out of the city he took a eunuch, that was set over the men of war, and five men of those that were in the king’s presence, who were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, who mustered the people of the land, with sixty men of the people of the land that were found in the city.
20
Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.